ScruffytheJanitor

This board has become an all-Arte waste land in your absence. It is believed that soon after you left, a type of pro-Arte mania has spread and is only getting worse. Factions have begun to splinter the movement, however. Stradling is crowdfunding a golden Arte statue in Long Beach in an effort to get him to move the team, while inside Pitch moved to Los Vegas, gambling away his fortune in an ill-fated attempt to win enough money to build a stadium there. TDawg and Lou have begun working their way up the corporate ladder at Del Taco, only sending the occasional cryptic text to provide updates. However, they are both have to take so many opiates to deal with the pain of working in Del Taco's cooperate offices that their messages are gibberish and no one knows what their goals or methods are. Meanwhile, It was revealed in a court filing by the ATF that Chuck moved only to open his new compound -- called "Heavens Home Plate Gate "-- and has appointed Second Base and Blarg as his priests. They further allege that Rodondo is going to be sacrificed at the opening of the compound, though Chuck -- sorry, HIGH PRIEST AND KEEPER OF THE RELICS Chuck -- has denied these rumors, insisting that he would never sacrifice a human, would only offer a racoon or turtle or, at worst, Taylor as his offering. Thank God you have come back to restore order.

He literally might just be the MLB version of a "Camp Arm" -- someone who can play shortstop competently enough that the starters benefit, but will get sent down once the rubber meets the road so to speak.

Assuming I were a Billionaire and the owner of the Angels, I would offer 6 years, 330 Million (55 Per year) -- with an opt outs in year 3 and 5. You can fudge the numbers here and make it look like a 10 year, 500 Million + offer, but in reality its almost certainly going to be a 3-5 year deal. From Ohtani's perspective, he would probably want to do something like Machado did and get paid twice. The two opt outs give him the chance to either reach Free Agency at age 31 or stick around with Trout and the gang if we are (still?) winning while hitting the market in his age 33 season -- which is realistically the last shot he'll get at the really big bucks. For the Angels, 3-4 seasons is really the window we are looking at before Trout's decline begins in earnest AND Rodon's contract becomes a real an albatross. The double opt outs give us insurance in case things fall apart this year and/or next year while also setting us up for a decent trade if Trout really starts to slow down.

Look, I'm probably underselling Martin Perez and Eovaldi (Heaney I think I have about right), but I've never been big on Eovaldi and Perez could be an OK #2 - even if, as I expect, he takes a small step back. I also think they are VERY susceptible to injuries much like we were last season. They are HIGHLY dependent on about six players staying healthy AND reaching somewhere near the high-end of their projections. I'm not sure if Josh Jung or Jack Leiter are enough to save the day if they deal with any injuries. One more offseason and they could really be scary, but I need to see it first.

I dunno man -- people are really excited about their pitching haul, but DeGrom is carrying a lot of weight there. There is a real possibility that he is surrounded by a bunch of mediocrity. Their outfield is still pretty meh, they have nothing at third base and their depth is not very good. Now matter how good they are at 1st/2nd/ Short/ C, most scenarios probably have them as a well-below average offense. Is DeGrom, half an offense, and a solid bullpen really enough to win half their games? I'm not sold yet.

I would really love to read an impartial deep dive into the Angels organization and how it compares to others. I think that the conditions for Minor League players (which are terrible everywhere) and the report about there being only a handful of scouts (which seems to have been fixed) really have people thinking that the Angels are little better than an independent league outfit. I half suspect that we'd actually be somewhere in the middle when it comes to things like research, stats, baseball opps, and scouting (really, everyone is below the Astros, Dodgers, Braves, Rays, and Yankees here) while below average in Minor League accommodations - but I could be way off. Sure -- there are reasons these narratives exist-- but it's also fair to say that these reasons can stretch back into the Stoneman era, which was 15+ ago. In reality, no one outside of the industry really has an idea about what the Angels are doing and how it compares to the best/worst in the business.

Maybe the spy balloons were just trying to get some scouting info.

I like Regifo, and I'm not a big Andrus fan, but we are sleeping on the fact that Fletcher/Rengifo might be a significant negative next season.

There was a time when Law was good. But then he became a food snob (and talked about it like anyone would give a shit) and started to criticize clubs for their approach rather than evaluating prospects. At that point, he clearly was out of his depth. He kind of reminds me of a lot of Mel Kiper -- was good once, but then his name blew up and he became lazy in his evaluations.

Much like Moreno's tenure, this thread started good, began to underwhelm half way through, and now just feels like a waste of so much potential.

I am still pretty nervous about our Bullpen, though we certainly still have enough bullets in the chamber to acquire a piece or two later on. I am still holding out hope that we acquire at least another arm (Bullpen or #6 starter type).

This is my assumption too -- Mets feel like they are in the perfect position to do this.

Can't believe we let this guy go. Outside of the Multiple weeks of meltdowns in April and July, our bullpen was mostly average. On a serious note: genuinely thought this guy was let go at the start of the offseason.

Our line up last year was sick -- multiple experts diagnosed it as "Anemic."

Y'all are too damn gloomy - save that shit for the season. This is the season for sick line ups and irrational optimism. 92-70.

I wonder if he's trying to sell himself as a "Bargain" at something like 7 years/ 200 million. Might explain why his market seems relatively tepid.

Starting position player, top-3 bullpen piece, or top-5 starter. Anything else isn't a splash.

If a big trade happens in the next two days I will apologize, but until then I call malarkey.

Man... the idea that Tucker Davidson will make anything besides an emergency start makes me think adding another starter would be a good idea.

I think I like this top five better than any other group since it was: 1. Mike Trout 2 -5. Who gives a shit we have Mike Trout.

I actually don't know what to think. There is a pretty good chance they have a bunch of great pitching led by one of the best in the business; I also think there is a chance it turns into DeGrom and an indistinguishable pile of #4 starters. And while there is value in that, I'm not sure that Heaney really raises their ceiling too much -- unless, of course, they make a trade.

You forget -- Heaney would look pretty good for like 2-3 starts per year. Those are ALL coming against the Angels. His other 14 starts? Eh.....

We are DEFINITELY drafting 11th.